His most famous painting (Girl with a white dog) – Lucian Freud
Britain’s most popular artist, Lucian Freud, was born on December 8, 1922 in Berlin to Jewish parents Ernst Ludwig Freud and Nee Brasch. Freuds moved to England in 1931, and in 1939, Lucian became a British citizen. The painter studied art at the Cedric Morris East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing in Dedham. He also studied at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
Lucian Freud held his first solo art exhibition at the Lefevre Gallery, in 1944. His early works were considered ‘Surrealist’ due to their unusual compositions, depicting plants, animals and people. During 1949-54, he changed his painting style, now concentrating more on portraits and nudes, using impasto. One of those masterpieces of this metamorphosed style is “Girl with a White Dog”. To prevent colors from mixing with each other, Freud used alternate brushes for different colors or cleaned his brush after each brush stroke. Today, Freud is identified as the greatest ‘figurative’ painter of modern times.
Lucian Freud would use friends and acquaintances as models, rather than professionals, as he wanted the person’s ‘real’ and ‘natural’ thoughts and feelings to be captured on his canvas. He would use the same people as models for different paintings of his, in order to develop a relationship with them on a physical and mental aesthetic level. He believed that professional models are a “bit of art”. His painting, “Girl with a White Dog” puts a lot of stress on the sitter’s face and body. Lucian exploited the daring poses (with one of the girl’s breasts dangling) and the expressions found in them, without the slightest hesitation.
Lucian’s “Girl with a White Dog” is a highly acclaimed painting, which he painted during 1951-1952. The girl in this painting was his first wife Kathleen (Kitty) Garman, the daughter of Jacob Epstein and Kathleen Garman. The portrait was made when Kitty was pregnant. Kitty posed for the oil-on-canvas portrait in a yellow-green robe that unknowingly slips off her right shoulder, exposing a breast. Freud has magnificently captured the multitude of emotions running across Kitty’s face at this moment, including confidence, maturity, and to some extent a sense of foreboding. The painting almost gives the feeling of being an emotional narrative.
Freud used soft, linear ingresque strokes to complete this masterpiece, which displays an unusual juxtaposition between the bulldog’s fur, the wool of Kitty’s dressing gown, and the silk bedspread. According to the painter, he has managed to capture the moment, instead of just being an instrument to paint it. It is said that Kathleen herself bought this painting by paying a good sum, since she did not want it to end up in the hands of some pervert.